I always hold back from the blog bc of the time required to choose and pick the pics for the matching descriptions, so please excuse me if we just have a wordy post without all the normal visual images!
We've had an extremely lucky year with many visitors, trips and are currently celebrating Christmas and their birthday with Grandpa & Grandma McGuire over for an extended bit. Our family has grown by one as we added a yellow Labrador puppy to the mix. Each child chose their special name and she is officially registered as "Conkers Lily Twinkle".... I imagine the judges will love that if she ever enters the field trials.
We also made a big decision and purchased a new home in the next village east of Brampton, named Low Row. We live less than 10 homes away from Darren's sister Jackie and her family, including husband Barry and our nieces Sophie & Olivia. Mac has already figured out how to time his visits so that he gets Auntie Jackie to feed him. On the second day in our new home, my darling husband (with Sophie's advice) took down a wall before leaving for America. So I've had a quick and steep learning curve of home remodeling in the UK, including joiners, plasterers, decorators, and just before Christmas we got to a stable point in order to have lull over the holidays.
Mac
Mac continues to be very sweet natured while maintain a full dose of his Y chromosome. He suffers the most since we've entered into our period of dark nights, requiring the most physical energy/outlet in the evenings. He's sensitive when tired, protective of his sisters, and loves to climb in and cuddle. Kisses are out of the question, although he'll tolerate some on his forehead or a sneaky cheek. But he hasn't given them out in quite some time. He loves to do physical sports, but is also the most uncertain about trying new things. He has three buddies in his class, and seems to be good friends with all of them, picking and choosing different friends for different activities. He still sleeps with his lovey, but it doesn't generally travel away from home with him. He is the middle of a phase where lovey goes into the freezer before bed.
His favorite superhero is Batman, his favorite color in red, and herby potatoes (specifically the ones from the school cook) are his favorite. He is recently and fondly involved with learning about Pokémon, and loves to wear his joggers with his Pikachu shirt as his first choice. His favorite part of school is "making stuff", and he is progressing with his reading with a blend of sight words and phonics. He will sit and color for hours, creating scenes from stories as well as creating his own. When the weather is nice, he has found a love of "football" or soccer and some of the older boy from our neighborhood will come knocking to have him come up and play ball at the play park. When given his choices for school activities, he chose the running club. He can be convinced to try other things, especially if his good buddy Tom is going to be there, but his initial reaction is to not participate because of nerves. After our American vacation this summer where we had pool access for two weeks straight, he became a much more confident swimmer, picking toys off the bottom and going from one end of the pool to the other. He's requested that we restart swimming lessons, because he wants to get faster.
Mac is consistent in his food preferences, and if they are his chosen foods, he can clear his plate in rapid time. He likes to say that he doesn't like something anymore.... right before asking for a helping of it.
He is in a 5/6 for pants and shirts and his shoes are a UK 10.5. Weight: 39.6 lbs
Paisley
Paisley is an avid fan of maths. Often creating her own worksheets as she works out the pattern that math problems follow. They are working through addition and subtraction at school, but she will occasionally do multiplication independently. She loves an activity book and will entertain herself with singing and dancing all about the house. She has a special affection for youtube videos and I wouldn't doubt it if one day she has her own channel. She comes home from school and does her homework straight away, while the other two need a bit more convincing. She will sit and do crafts for hours, and has really enjoyed being part of the art club as her first after school activity. She has decided on being an artist when she gets older.
She chose to join the school choir, and has a knack for performance and facial gestures. She still gets nervous in new or large surroundings and will ask to be held or just need lap cuddles. Her "bear" or "ted" is still around for bedtime, and an occasional soothing snuggle, but it also doesn't travel with us unless sleepiness is on the schedule.
Paisley is our pickiest eater, with limited fruits and veggies. But she's got a few in each category and is slowly expanding. She's also the only one who continues to enjoy tuna, salmon, and coconut.
Paisley is finally growing and in a 4/5 for clothes and size 7 shoes. She remains 4 inches shorter than Mac & Catherine. Weight: 29.4lbs
Catherine
Catherine is a willing participant in any activity, and the first one to go and find a new friend when we are at a play area. She's proven herself to be a good friend, and has gotten much more confident about expressing her own ideas. She is long and lanky, and takes after her Aunt Ellen & Grandpa's in her long legs! There is not an ounce of extra padding on her even though she is generally my best eater. She loves a cuddle in and still remains very, very, very attached to her monkey. She's spent more than a few hours with Grandpa McGuire in the big chair this visit. Cuddles with monkey also mean thumb sucking so we've been trying to decrease the amount of time together, but it's a tricky one! Monkey has very recently started staying at home while she goes to school (vs. in her backpack or car seat) so a bit of distance in on the horizon.
She is the most easily frustrated with her abilities, and needs reminders that she is still learning and practicing will make it better. She loves to tell a joke and certainly has a silly side that loves to entertain. She recently got a joke book in her grab bag from Grandma and has been spending time memorizing and reading them.
Catherine has the most varied diet, easting a broad spectrum of fruit, veg and proteins. She's my pizza pal as we share a regular ham, mushroom and olive pizza. At our recent Christmas dinner she had 2 helpings of brussel sprouts.
Catherine is a 5/6 for length, a 3/4 for width and a size 10 shoes. She is 34.5 lbs.
They all continue to love school and never fuss about going in the morning. We are late sleepers so our morning routine is rushed most days, but it is VERY rare to hear them complain about going. They are all beginning readers and can work their way through simple books. As part of school, they read at home a minimum of 4 times a week. This is generally an easily met task, (although getting me to write it down is a larger task!). Occasionally this is accomplished with all three sitting relatively close and reading out loud simultaneously.... talk about multi tasking as I listen for words to correct or support.
They have loved moving into our new village, which comes with their cousins around the corner and school friends up the street. Sophie, our niece, has started doing a little evening babysitting and they jump at the chance to have her over. As a team, they get along so well, and are generally laughing and entertaining each other instead of fighting (although that does occasionally happen as well).
Their school has provided them with lots of experiential learning adventures (as well as local press coverage!). They've been in the paper dressed as Romans walking Hadrian's Wall, in their Tudor finery as they had a banquet at the local Naworth castle, and most recently with the girls in their Angelic nativity costumes.
Darren continues to work hard, and also enjoy our local golf club and shooting season. He travels off and on, and we work to try and make sure we balance life as much as possible. He's in love with his new dog, and has already started training her for shooting seasons. He joined us for 2/3 weeks America for family vacation, I joined him in Thailand for a project he was on, and we had a childfree long weekend in Tenerife where we enjoyed uninterrupted sleep and ocean views.
I've continued on as the chair of our parent organization at school, and have recently joined the School Governors as well. I've got another volunteer board as the secretary of the Dacre Hall, a local village hall that is also a registered landmark and said to be possibly the oldest village hall. I seem to have lost all the free time I thought I had, but the days are full and happy, and the housework is always behind.
My original spouse visa expires at the end of this month, so hopefully we'll be hearing soon if they're going to give me another chance. The kids recent query was "who will take care of us if you go back to America", so they're obviously not quite ready to leave! I've found my vocabulary has naturally shifted as they have come home with words.... We play "naughts and crosses" instead of tic-tac-toe, they wear jumpers instead of sweaters and more often than not things go in the bin instead of the trash. But I've still got plenty of Americanisms.... and most of them I'm not aware of until my friends start laughing :) I’ve lost a dear friend Paul Giaccio recently, and I’m trying to remember to Live Like Paul with a life full of kindness and a desire to make the most of each day. We love you and miss you.
Well, I hope this one little shot got a few of you (and me) caught up! We find ourselves so lucky that our miracle babies are 6 and we haven't totally ruined them yet.
I'm sure I'll add some more and hopefully attach some pics as I generally wake up the next day wishing I had put something in.
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